Thursday, June 28, 2012

leaving me pleasantly surprised...

You know that quote by Julia Glass, “I'd rather be pleasantly surprised than fatally disappointed.”?! Yeah, neither did I until I came across it the other day...ha...but it goes perfectly with my experience with Napoli! I'll be honest, I didn't have that high of expectations about Napoli, considering people told me it was dirty, scary, and pretty much the armpit of Italy. Hm, awesome!?!

However, Naples was my husband's favorite city back when he served his mission here, and so he of course had to show me his old stomping grounds. Let me tell ya...it's about the furthest thing from glamourous but I can honestly say I loved it!

My favorites/most memorable things about Napoli: Visiting some families Josh knew and having them cook us dinner...their hospitality and their love for their culture was nothing I've ever seen! Napoli pizza was out of this world (best I had in Italy hands down!). Buying our Naples Nativity (there's a street FULL of small shops filled with tiny figurines and nativities that they create by hand). Almost getting run over about 9 trillion times. Going to Castel dell'ovo. Just experiencing the true Italian ways of living (clothes hanging out of windows, 3 hour lunch breaks, scooters and taxis going up on sidewalks, illegal vendors running from the police, stray dogs and sweet old men taking strolls).

shayna you always know just what to say to make a gal feel extra "pretty" cuz we all know you really meant "you look beat and like you're about DONE traveling!" haha But hey I'll take a compliment where I can get it! :-) xoxo